


Abandoned Places

by erasvita



Category: Those Who Went Missing
Genre: Monthly Prompt, TWWM, abandoned places, esk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 05:03:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20791088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erasvita/pseuds/erasvita
Summary: October 2018 PromptAbandoned PlacesDoes your esk have a favorite abandoned place they visit? Do they travel alone? Or do they prefer to stay away from abandoned places out of fear or myth?





	Abandoned Places

_Car._

The word still sounded strange to her - but then again, all words did. She had heard it first from a pair of hikers, who had stopped to rest one day on the same rocky outcropping as she. Bemused, she had found herself creeping closer, close enough to hear their voices, and the way their voices solidified into words. And she had stopped the flow of fog that trickled ceaselessly from her body, allowing the remnants to dissipate over the edge of the cliff as she approached the girls.

Most of their discussion made little sense to her; she was still learning english, mostly by eavesdropping on others or pestering other esk to teach her this or that word. She learned bits and pieces at a time, collecting words like they were something physical and precious and worthy of admiration which, in a way, they were - if only to her. And she squirreled them away for the day that she might understand their purpose, and with that understanding inexplicable joy would faithfully blossom.

So now she listened intently, to these two girls that took turns standing at the edge of a great, rounded rock while the other one looked on, calling out minute instructions. Occasionally the onlooker would cry out “hold it!”, all while holding a small and thin black box in front of them and tapping quickly at its flat surface. Eventually, when the two girls had again switched places and begun to repeat the strange procedure for the third or fourth time, the pale esk had grown curious enough to see for herself what was so special about the strange object.

Rising from her place upon the rock where hitherto she had been sunbathing, she padded over to the raven-haired girl, the one currently holding the object. The human was much taller than the esk - her head barely passed the girl’s hip - and she sat there for a moment puzzling over the predicament. She had, after all, not yet learned to levitate _without_ causing fog to emanate from the hollow interior or her body, and surely the human would think it strange if a cloud suddenly formed behind her. But then the girl dropped suddenly to one knee, holding the device before her and at arm’s length.

And there on the surface of it, the esk could see the _other girl_, now sitting on the rocky ledge.

She sat with her back to them, looking out upon the mountainside. One arm was raised at her side, with her fist formed into a curious shape in which her thumb pointed up and the rest of the fingers were curled tightly inwards. The surface of the object captured all of it perfectly, in one miniature, identical image. 

The girl holding the phone tapped its screen again, and the esk watched as the surface seemed to blink like one large, oddly shaped eye. “Okay, got it,” the girl called back to her companion, who then stood and dusted herself off. The esk watched as the objected mirrored her actions.

After they had taken a few more pictures, this time of both of them together - and the esk struggled to decipher the purpose of it all the while - finally they put their device away, and sat together looking out over the blue-tinged mountains once more.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” The raven-haired girl asked, breaking the silence. 

Finally, words the esk understood, and she hummed in agreement as she lay down again on the slate. The sun and the rock were warm against her, the wind tousling the girls’ hair and causing the leaves adorning the esk to shiver. For a while the three of them sat in happy companionship - the pair unaware of the third’s presence and chatting easily about their hike up to this point. The esk listened in silence, enjoying the sound their voices made in the wide open air. 

She wasn’t sure how much time passed like this - time was nearly as foreign to her as language. But eventually the two stood and, with only a few words, agreed to head back to the “car.”

She hadn’t intended to follow them at first - but the word seemed to stick in the air, lingering in her mind. Car, she repeated to herself. And before they had rounded the nearest corner in the path, she had stood and followed after them. 

Pine trees rose up like giants all around her, and the sequoias rose even higher still. The two girls set an easy pace down the trail, in no rush to make their way back. Instead they enjoyed the scenery of the national forest, and the esk was happy to follow. It was a clear, warm day, and the sunlight streaming through the branches cast beams of dappled light onto the forest floor. The trail was a streak of dirt cutting through pine needles and ivy and undergrowth, weaving its way slowly through the trees. Birds flit from tree to tree while squirrels chattered noisily overhead, and when they passed through a small clearing a family of deer sprang to their feet and cantered swiftly away. 

As a bumblebee passed her nose she began to hum softly to herself, the leaves of her nature feature rustling softly. She had always loved these forests, that blanketed the mountainsides with a multitude of life and activity. It was easy, for a while, to lose herself amongst the game trails and hiking paths, to dance through the trees with all the rest of nature. The mountains sang in a way that she understood - all the plants, all the animals spoke the same, universal language as she, one of simplicity, of sunshine and rain and wind. For a while, she could feel at peace here beside the giants of the earth.

The sun was beginning to set when the girls reached the end of the trail. The dirt gave way to asphalt, winding like a twisted black snake through the land. She followed them to a clearing of dirt, decorated with a few sparse sequoias.

And sat beneath those sequoias were the four wheeled, metal boxes that the humans traveled in.

She watched in silence from the shadow of a tree as the girls removed their hiking gear, packed it into the back seats, and then climbed in. A few minutes later the vehicle roared to life, and crept out slowly onto the black snake-road. There it turned right, and sped off down the highway.

_Car. _

Now, it made sense.

~~~

The memory came rushing back to her in astonishing clarity, as if she were watching it play out once more on the girls’ phone screens. 

She blinked, and the mountains and the forests and the hikers disappeared. And it was no longer the shiny black Subaru that she stared at, but a different car. One that might have been blue once, but was now dull and rusted and twisted. 

It was a surprisingly old fashioned, boxy shape, and it was missing its doors. The seats inside were torn and faded, and dirt was piled up on the flooring and there grasses had taken root. 

Beyond it, before it, all around it a wide plain stretched, as far as the eye could see. The silhouettes of mountains rose in the distance to the east, and from here to there a sea of grass danced in the wind. The sky overhead was a blue so deep, she could almost ignore the way it yellowed to the west (where the cities were). The car was parked atop a low hill, overlooking the endless meadow that it had, over time, become one with. Each year it seemed the grasses grew a little taller, invading it a little more; stalks stuck out from between the tires, grew up through the floorboards, had twisted their way beneath the hood. 

The last time the esk had visited, the meadow had been full of bright orange poppies and other decorative wildflowers in what the people called a “super bloom.” She had not been alive long enough to know what it looked like here on other years, when there was less rain and more heat. There had been a great deal more people, then, as well; so many she could hardly walk more than a hundred feet without seeing someone different. She had had to be careful then, to keep her fog at bay while she watched them lay amongst the flowers. But now all she saw was an innumerable amount of grasses blanketing the ground, and the occasional patch of sunflowers of other wildflowers standing proudly through it all.

Now she let her elemental pour from her at will, twisting at her sides like cloudy fingers that reached out to caress each blade of grass and each soft wildflower petal. It felt like relief to her, like with it all the tension and wariness dissipated like water vapor beneath the sun. It felt like freedom, and she imagined the way the earth felt when it stretched uninterrupted for miles upon miles.

Grass and fog blended into one, as her elemental stretched farther and farther from her body. The wind pushed at her, sending her fog twisting through the tall blades of grass, setting them all to dancing. She thought she might like to go dancing amongst them, too.

The grasses parted around her as she wade through them, making her way up the hill. And when at last she stood before the beat-up, abandoned ford, she looked upon it with a newfound appreciation. It did not belong here, like she had once thought it might. And yet, she could not imagine the plain without it. No longer would it growl to life, or crush the delicate growth beneath its weight and tires. 

Nature was slowly claiming the machine as its own. And while the metal might never decay completely, still it would not longer cause the destruction it one had.

The esk walked slowly up to it, and placed the tip of her muzzle against its side mirror.

_Car,_ she named it.

And then she climbed upon its old and faded hood, the better by which to see the sky and the horizon and everything that lay between here and there.

With the wind sending the scent of the grasses and wildflowers washing over her like a wave, she stretched out atop the rusted and beat up vehicle. 

The presence of the mountains, although distant, were comforting. In them, she knew, was the trail that she was destined to return to, and countless stories that each hiker brought with them. Later the restlessness would return, and she would be unable to resist the call of that fateful path.

But for now she was content. And so she lay there in the warmth of the sun, surrounded by nature, on a car that did not belong; and there was not a single soul in sight to disturb her tenuous peace.

**Author's Note:**

> **Final word count: 1835**  
**AP Breakdown**  
Base Score: 36 AP (Writing: 1835 words)  
+10 AP (Monthly Prompt)  
+5 AP (Elemental: 5 AP * 1)  
+5 AP (Personal Work Bonus)  
+16 AP (Storyteller Bonus: 8 AP * 2)  
_Total AP per submission: 72_
> 
> **GP Breakdown**  
Base Score: 18 GP (Writing: 1835 words)  
+1 GP (Monthly Prompt)  
+5 GP (Elemental: 5 GP * 1)  
+12 GP (Storyteller Bonus: 6 GP * 2)  
_Total GP per submission: 36_


End file.
